Relationship Advice: Money Can’t Buy You Love

The Beatles’ relationship advice that money can’t buy you love is true. A recent study by Brigham Young University asked over 1,700 couples across the country to complete a marriage study where one question asked them to rate how much they value “having money and lots of things.” The couples who reported that money isn’t important to them scored 10 to 15 percent better on marriage stability and relationship quality than those that placed a high value on material wealth.

Couples where both spouses were materialistic scored poorly on nearly all measures of relationship health, such as communication, conflict resolution, and responsiveness to their partners. Even though these couples often had higher incomes than non-materialistic couples, money was a bigger source of conflict. And couples where both partners were materialistic were worse off than couples where only one partner was materialistic.

This is good news in this economy when many of us are struggling with job loss and lower wages. Our financial health doesn’t need to be tied to our relationship health. If you find yourself placing a high value on material wealth, it may be time to take a step back and look at the big picture. What’s really more valuable to you: your things or your relationships?